GARETH Southgate has tipped team-mate Chris Riggott for the very top after watching him step out of the Riverside shadows this season.

Riggott has struggled to break into the Middlesbrough first team since making a £2m move from Derby in January 2003, managing just 22 Premiership appearances in his first 18 months on Teesside.

The cultured centre-half struggled to split the pairing of Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu, while his cause was further hampered by a series of niggling injuries.

This season, the persistent injury problems have plagued Ehiogu, with Riggott featuring in every League game other than September's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.

The 24-year-old was in imperious form at the Valley on Saturday, marking South African Shaun Bartlett out of the game, and Southgate is sure that his new-found confidence stems from a sustained involvement in the first team.

"When we signed Chris, we signed a lad who had great potential but had obviously suffered a bit at Derby because of the way things had gone for the club," said the Boro skipper, who has also been a fixture since missing the first two games of the season through injury.

"I think you're now seeing that he's gained confidence from getting a run in the side and he's maturing as a player.

"He's starting to show the stature of somebody who can go on to be a top centre-half. It's very much in his hands and the longer his run in the side, the more comfortable he's going to be in those surroundings."

After being capped at England youth and under-21 level, Riggott's fine form has seen him being linked with a possible call-up into Sven Goran Eriksson's senior squad.

An opening day howler against Newcastle has been consigned to the history books and, a conceded penalty against Crystal Palace apart, the defender has reached a level of consistency he has struggled to attain in the past.

Middlesbrough's start to the season has won plenty of plaudits but, with Stewart Downing also being touted as an international in waiting, Southgate has sought to temper some of the more lavish praise that is being heaped on his team-mates.

"We're pushing a lot of our players forward at the moment and we have to be a little bit careful about that," he said.

"Those players have to continue playing well at the level they're at and, if they do, there are opportunities there.

"There's great competition for places with England - especially in the centre of defence.

"Chris is developing really well at the minute, and the experience of playing at the highest reaches of the league and competing in Europe - which is the standard you reach in international football - can only do him the world of good."

Southgate's own international future looks less rosy, with the 34-year-old having been overlooked since winning his 57th cap in March's 1-0 friendly defeat to Sweden.

"I've always said that, if the opportunity arose again, I would love to play," he said. "But I don't expect it to happen.

"I think the manager has decided on the group of players he wants to take him forward to the next World Cup and, understandably, they're of a younger ilk.

"I'm relaxed about it all. Having been involved in the past, it's easier for me to accept not being involved so much now, and it also makes it easier when things are going so well at club level.

"I enjoyed my time with England but, if that was it, then I've got no problems with the situation at all."

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